The internet forums are clear that one of the key things that could keep me from getting a fine-dining job is a lack of wine knowledge. So today's goal was to start addressing that deficit immediately.
There are plenty of websites about wine, but after surfing them on my own and growing overwhelmed at the amount of information, I wanted a guide. Someone to lead me through the complex world of wine. Quickly and calmly. So I turned to podcasts....
And I found my man.
Bill Wilson.
Remember when they used to make TV shows about non-dysfunctional families? Like The Brady Bunch and Happy Days? Well if you were going to make such a show today, and you needed to cast the dad, you couldn't do better than Bill Wilson, in my opinion. Of course, Mike Brady (Robert Reed) was the hunky, sexy-but-wholesome type Dad (c'mon, he was), and Bill Wilson is more of the Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley) variety. But how can you not like this guy? Look at what he says on his website:
....don’t feel obliged to donate. There are a few episodes where (as one iTunes reviewer put it) I did too much begging. If you feel you must part with your cash, please donate to your local food bank.
The costs of producing the podcast were absorbed long ago, so don’t worry about it.What a nice man!
You'll save time if you download the podcasts directly from iTunes, rather than downloading from the website and then having to upload to iTunes to watch. (All these podcasts are free.) This can be tricky since the iTunes format makes it difficult to see the whole title of each podcast. There appear to be several different versions of Wilson's wine course offerings, so I opted to go with the six-lesson version most recently produced: Wine for Newbies 101, which has both audio-only and video formats. Here's what seemed to be the easiest way to get them:
- Search iTunes podcasts for "Wine for Newbies"
- Sort the listing by date
- Start with the Wine for Newbies 101 series posted beginning 12/5/09
- If you want the video version of each lesson, look for the little screen icon:
I recommend the video option, despite what I said in an earlier post about "talking head" videos. Granted, there's not a lot of information that you gain from watching versus listening here. But Bill has such a relaxed approach and everyman look that it gives me confidence even I can learn about wine. In Lesson 2 I noticed that his knitted vest has a pattern shape on it that looks suspiciously like a Mickey Mouse silhouette. And in Lesson 4 the poor guy apologizes for his scratchy throat and looks like he has a fever. What dedication to his work! Makes me want to play Marion and get him some aspirin and a blanket.
Not to be stalkerish, but I looked him up on Linked-In. Turns out he's actually a family law attorney. And not to be further stalkerish, but I also saw found an online interview where he admits he would love to be able to make enough money on his podcasts to quit practicing law and focus on a career as a wine expert. A mid-life career changer: be still my heart! Normally I have a thing against lawyers, but wanting to quit makes it OK. And the fact that he still hopes to make enough money to quit law, yet urges viewers to donate money to a food bank instead of to him....you just don't get more decent than that.
Here's a list of the six videos in the Wine For Newbies 101 series that I'm tackling today, along with their release dates and run-times:
Lesson One: Is It Hard to Learn About Wine (12/5/09; 4:48)
Lesson Two: Learning To Taste Wine (12/8/09; 11:44)
Lesson Three: Evaluating Wine (12/11/09; 10:14)
Lesson Four: Evaluating Wine Part 2 (12/15/09; 14:23)
Lesson Five: Get a Good Wine Glass (1/6/10; 9:50)
Lesson Six: Wine Labels (3/14/10; 13:52)
When I'm finished with these, I'll start checking out the other 100+ of his wine podcasts on iTunes, though sadly it appears most are audio-only.
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